There are plenty of new faces in Kansas City, but through three weeks of the 2009 season, the results are the same. The Chiefs are 0-3 under new head coach Todd Haley, and quarterback Matt Cassel has looked more like a former seventh-round pick destined for a career as an NFL backup than a cornerstone of the franchise.
After Herm Edwards' three-year reign of terror (the team won nine games and made the playoffs in 2006, but managed just six victories the next two seasons) most Chiefs fans had learned to deal with the weekly disappointments. Not all of them, however.
With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. We call it The Once-Over.
A year ago, Matt Cassel got his chance to be an NFL starting quarterback when then-Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard blew up Tom Brady's knee. Cassel led the Patriots to 11 wins, and played well enough for the Chiefs to trade for him in the offseason.
Smash cut to Cassel tweaking his knee during Kansas City's third preseason game (God's sense of humor is underrated), which forced him to miss the first Sunday of the 2009 season. Any chances the Chiefs -- an outfit that won six times in their last 32 games -- had against the Ravens were out the window with Cassel on the bench.
A year ago, Matt Cassel got his chance to be an NFL starting quarterback when then-Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard blew up Tom Brady's knee. Cassel led the Patriots to 11 wins, and played well enough for the Chiefs to trade for him in the offseason.
Smash cut to Cassel tweaking his knee during Kansas City's third preseason game (God's sense of humor is underrated), which forced him to miss the first Sunday of the 2009 season. Any chances the Chiefs -- an outfit that won six times in their last 32 games -- had against the Ravens were out the window with Cassel on the bench.
As the No. 1 overall pick in 1990, Chipper Jones signed with the Braves for $275,000.
Even in today's dollars, that's about $450,000 -- or about 3 percent of Stephen Strasburg was guaranteed as this year's No. 1 pick.
And Jones agreed to his deal the night before the draft, while Strasburg came within two minutes of missing last Monday's deadline to sign.
"I think the only way that you're going to get kids signed and get them into the various camps is to put some kind of cap on it," Jones said. "I was always of the belief that you make your money at the big-league level."
That's how the teams want it too. When the current collective bargaining agreement is up in two years, Major League Baseball may pursue an NBA-style slotting system -- with signing bonuses locked in depending on how high a player is picked, as opposed to the current non-binding slot recommendations.
Cut-N-Go is Fantasy FootballFanHouse's daily gathering of links from around the web, covering the goings-on in NFL Training Camp which have an impact on fantasy value.
Keep a close eye on this Saturday's preseason game as Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt expects rookie running back Chris "Beanie" Wells to get some reps against San Diego, but his time to shine appears to be dwindling fast. The Arizona Repbulic reported that Beanie Wells twisted his already sore ankle on Wednesday night at practice. With Tim Hightower moving well ahead Wells as the favorite for the starting job, this could be one of Wells' last chances to make a bid for the starting spot.
The rookie out of Ohio State seemed like a perfect fit to take the reigns in the backfield and raised a lot of fantasy eyebrows as a favorite choice for a 2009 sleeper. Now his ADP is slipping fast and his value as a fantasy threat for the early part of the season appear to be slim to none. Never say never, but this is looking like an uphill battle for Wells.
Let's take a look around the rest of the league to see what other fantasy relevant news is breaking.
As the season nears, FanHouse's fantasy football team decided to put our heads together for another set of updated positional rankings. First up, the signal-callers.
We've now established thrice what everyone already knew anyway: Drew Brees is heading into the season as the consensus No. 1 fantasy football quarterback. This time around, though, we did have quite the knock-down, drag-out battle for a spot toward the top -- the two-hole. Rivals Peyton Manning and Tom Brady did battle, and their average ranking amongst our staff was a near dead heat (2.5 to 2.67).
Click through to see who emerged -- along with the rest of our top 45 quarterbacks.(Last Updated: 8/27/09)
Al Davis loves speedy wide receivers and strong-armed quarterbacks. These are well-known facts that explain -- though don't justify -- many of the Raiders' draft-day decisions.
There was a time, 25 to 30 years ago, when Oakland's reliance on the deep pass was integral to its success. But defenses evolve to combat offensive advancements and what was in vogue a few seasons back will almost certainly be obsolete today.
It's an arms race. Unless you're Davis, who still has visions of Kenny Stabler or Jim Plunkett regularly connecting with Cliff Branch. Meanwhile, the reality is that the Raiders are one of the worst organizations in the league, and there's no reason to think that will change anytime soon.
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days.
FanHouse is here to help with an in-depth look at each division that should have you plenty prepared for training camp. We're calling it Summer Scramble. This morning we look at some Burning Questions in the AFC West and offer a ridiculously early prediction of how the division will finish.
With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.
Meet The ... Conclusion of the Butt Chiefs. That lousy 2-14 Chiefs squad from 2008 has nowhere to go but up from here, so they will no longer be the butt of everyone's joke. Remember that explosive offense for the NFC Champion, Arizona Cardinals. Well, former offensive coordinator Todd Haley assumes his first head coaching job this season in Kansas City. In other words, the Chiefs offense just became very relevant for fantasy football owners. Sure, Haley still faces a massive challenge in terms of personnel, but you can rest assured that this season, the Chiefs' offense will make plays just like Haley's Cardinals did.
There are plenty of new faces in Kansas City, but through three weeks of the 2009 season, the results are the same. The Chiefs are 0-3 under new head coach Todd Haley, and quarterback Matt Cassel has looked more like a former seventh-round pick destined for a career as an NFL backup than a cornerstone of the franchise. 
Every Sunday, 
As the season nears, FanHouse's fantasy football team decided to put our heads together for another set of updated positional rankings. First up, the signal-callers. 
Al Davis
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days. 
With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all. 
